Fight fans will decide on who will share the cover of the newest UFC game with Jon Jones

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones finally bagged the slot of a UFC video game cover after losing his spot to Anderson Silva in 2011. He will now join the company of Brock Lesnar, Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva as fighters who became faces of the game. The UFC and EA Sports made the announcement this Monday and they confirmed that Jones will appear in the cover of EA’s inaugural UFC game along with another fighter who will be determined through a voting process.

Bendo has set his sights on Rafael dos Anjos as possible opponent for his comeback fight

Former UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson finally broke his silence after losing his belt to rival Anthony Pettis last August. He discussed some of his plans for his return bout and the injury that he suffered following the loss. To his credit, Henderson has not mentioned any excuses or factors that might have affected his performances that night. The former champ just stated some clarifications regarding his “controversial” verbal tap.

Fresh from his Fight of the Year candidate bout with Gilbert Melendez, Diego Sanchez is again in a mood for another war. This time, he has set his sights on Nate Diaz. Sanchez, who already holds a win over Nate’s big brother, has expressed his desire to face the Stockton slugger via his Twitter account.

“Im thinking maybe nate diaz for the next fight would be an epic 5 rounder.” writes Sanchez on Twitter.

Diaz is already scheduled for a third match with Gray Maynard in the undercard of TUF 18 finale. He defeated Maynard in the semi finals of TUF 5 but the latter avenged his loss with a split decision win in 2010.

Both Maynard and Diaz are coming off knockout losses in their recent bouts. Maynard was stopped by TJ Grant while Diaz suffered his first KO loss at the hands of Josh Thomson. Prior to that, he was outpointed by then-champion Benson Henderson in his bid for the lightweight belt. Meanwhile, Sanchez suffered the only stoppage loss of his career in his lightweight title fight against BJ Penn way back in 2009.

Jose Aldo wants Anthony Pettis' lightweight belt for a chance of to hold titles in two weight classes

Anthony Pettis was supposed to drop to 145 to challenge featherweight king Jose Aldo but an injury yanked him out of the fight. He later won a title of his own when he submitted Benson Henderson in UFC 164. Now, with Pettis as the lightweight champ, Jose Aldo feels that it is his turn to come after Pettis’ belt.

“I want it at lightweight,” states Aldo regarding a potential fight with Pettis. “That’s where his belt resides, so I can steal it. It would be better for me since I already have a belt of my own. My belt is already up on the wall at my home.”

TJ Grant won't be having an immediate title shot upon his octagon return according to Dana White

Canadian lightweight contender TJ Grant is tearing on the lightweight division before an injury altered his shot at the lightweight gold. He suffered a concussion while training for his title fight against then-champion Benson Henderson. As a result, he was pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Anthony Pettis who eventually wrestled the belt from Bendo. Grant has retained his number 1 status but the same injury would again force him out of the championship bout with Pettis.

Dana White, while saying that he feels bad for what happened to Grant, believes that the Canadian might have lost his chance for the title after missing it twice.

“T.J. Grant’s in one of those unfortunate situations where he had the title shot and he had to pull out twice,” says White after last Saturday’s UFC 166 in Houston. “He’s in limbo. He might come back and have to fight another fight. We’ve got to keep this thing rolling.”

Gilbert Melendez, who put on an impressive show in UFC 166, will likely be the man to take the spot of TJ Grant. White admits that El Nino’s performance makes it difficult to deny him of a title shot. Meanwhile, Grant is still on the process of recovering from the injury. The exact date of his octagon return has not been revealed up to now.

Diego Sanchez expects a titleshot if he defeats Gilbert Melendez in an exciting fashion

Diego Sanchez may not be that impressive in his recent outings, he is 1-2 in his last three fights and one can argue that he lost all those fights. Nevertheless, his string of unimpressive performances did not prevented “The Dream” from assuming that a title shot is next once he gets past Gilbert Melendez in UFC 166.

With the recent happenings in the UFC, it is not that impossible for Sanchez to believe that he can earn a shot at gold after two consecutive wins. He has done it before when he challenged then-champion BJ Penn in 2009. Even Chael Sonnen did it when he went straight for Jon Jones belt after losing his middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva.

“Gilbert Melendez is my golden ticket. I’ve done it before. I fought two fights in 2009 at 155. Straight to the belt. (Melendez) has never been stopped. He avenged two of his three losses. His only loss is to Benson Henderson in a split decision that I felt went his way, so in a way I’m fighting a guy who’s almost untainted. And if I go in there, and I stop this guy, I think it makes a real case for a title shot.”

A stoppage win over El Nino will clearly raise Sanchez’ stocks but The Dream seems to forget that he is currently not ranked at 155. He would certainly enter the ranks but leapfrogging to a title shot is unlikely even if he stops Melendez in their showdown this weekend.

Rafael dos Anjos believes that a win over TJ Grant will put him closer to a lightweight titleshot

Rafael dos Anjos believes that he is one win away before getting his first ever UFC titleshot and he wants TJ Grant for that fight. The product of Kings MMA has racked up 5 wins in a row when he outpointed Donald Cerrone last August in the undercard of the Condit-Kampmann rematch.

“One more win and I should fight for the title,” says dos Anjos. “I won my last five fights. I’m in the UFC for five years, so I deserve a shot at the title after my next win.”

Talks of a superfight between featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis have already started even before Showtime won the lightweight championship over Benson Henderson. It was announced early this year that Pettis would drop to 145 lbs to challenge Aldo but the 26 year old Milwaukee native suffered an injury and was pulled out of the fight. Aldo defended his belt against Chan Sung Jung instead. He broke his right foot early in the fight but managed to pull a TKO victory due to an injury in The Korean Zombie’s shoulders. Pettis on the other hand, stayed at 155 and went on to win the belt last August 31. He is scheduled to make his first title defense against Josh Thomson in December.

The latest addition to the loaded year-end event of the UFC is a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Fabricio Camoes. The event takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena on December 28 and will feature the most anticipated rematch of Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman.

Both lightweight veterans are looking to return in the winning column. Jim Miller was once included in the mix of the best lightweights in the UFC. He is riding in a 7 fight winning streak before losing to Benson Henderson in August of 2011. He is 2 – 2 with 1 NC after that loss. Miller was submitted by Pat Healy in his latest fight but the decision was later overturned into a No Contest after Healy tested positive in marijuana. That fight earned Miller his 3rd Fight of the Night Award; it is his 2nd consecutive after his unanimous decision win over Joe Lauzon. He has also won the Submission of the Night three times.

BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar will meet in the octagon for the third time after their stint as coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 19

Dana White has told a small of group of reporters in Brazil about BJ Penn’s original plans before dropping to featherweight. He said that Penn originally asked for a fight with Benson Henderson as stepping stone for a trilogy with Frankie Edgar. Dana then decided that the former 2 division champion didn’t need to take an extra step. He asked Frankie if he wanted to fight BJ again and pitted them against each other as head coaches of the upcoming TUF season.